The Shadow Ministry of Tony Abbott was the opposition Coalition shadow ministry of Australia from December 2009 to September 2013, opposing the Australian Labor Party governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
The shadow ministry is a group of senior Opposition spokespeople who form an alternative Cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual Minister or portfolio of the Government.[1]
Since the 2007 federal election, the Liberal–National Coalition had been the Official Opposition, initially led by Brendan Nelson and later Malcolm Turnbull. In 2009, Tony Abbott defeated Turnbull in a leadership spill 42 votes to 41 in the second round and took on the role of Opposition Leader.
The Abbott shadow ministry was the first in which shadow ministers received additional pay for their roles, taking effect from 2012 after a decision of the Gillard government.[2]